Related Articles

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says officials are working around the clock to make the government's health insurance website better.

Speaking Thursday at a call center in Phoenix that is to help people enroll for coverage, Sebelius said nobody has been fired for technical glitches. She said a lot of the problems were caused by a surge in demand.

Earlier, technology contractors blamed health care officials in the Obama administration for the website problems that have left millions of uninsured Americans staring at computers showing error messages.

At a congressional hearing, contractor Andrew Slavitt of QSSI said his company shared its concerns with government officials about the website before its October 1 opening. He it was particularly troublesome that government officials made late decisions about how people could browse for health care policies.

A spokeswoman for the government agency in charge of the website's design (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) told reporters, “The system just was not tested enough, especially for high volumes.”

The spokeswoman said about 700,000 applications have been submitted through new exchanges created by the new health care program called the Affordable Care Act.

The hearing Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee was highly politicized. Republicans opposed to the law, popularly known as Obamacare, called its launch a disaster.

"We still do not know the real picture. The administration appears allergic to transparency and continues to withhold enrollment figures," said Upton.

Democrats on the House committee said many people are successfully buying insurance, but they, too, complained about the website problems.

Seven Senate Democrats said they want the White House to postpone parts of the law while contractors and the government work out the kinks.
In a radio interview (KNPR), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said, "... the administration should have known how difficult it was going to be to have 35 million or 40 million people to suddenly hook up to a place to go on the Internet."

President Barack Obama has called in key private and government technology experts to try to fix the health insurance portal.

Sebelius is to testify to Congress next week about the website failures and efforts to correct them.

Under the new law, people without private health insurance can sign up for government subsidized insurance. Those who choose not to buy any insurance will have to pay a fine.

Mixed-race comedian Trevor Noah, who is loved for his edgy jibes about race and language, is taking the helm from Jon Stewart at The Daily Show in US More

This forum has been closed.

Comment Sorting

Comments

by: Scum CIA from: D.C.

October 25, 2013 1:22 AM

A software company funded by the Central Intelligence Agency is managing data on Healthcare.gov, the Obamacare insurance exchange website.The CIA spies on the American people.

In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm, invested heavily into Socrata, the software company who provides data collection and management for Healthcare.gov and Medicare.gov.

Through a press release, Socrata announced a “strategic investment and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel (IQT), the independent strategic investment firm that identifies innovative technology solutions to support the missions of the U.S. Intelligence Community.”

“Under the agreement, IQT will make a strategic investment in Socrata,” the press release states. “The two entities will work together to further develop Socrata’s data consumerization platform for internal business analysts in data-rich organizations.”

“Users of Socrata’s technologies can transform raw data from multiple sources into more sophisticated and useful resources.”

In other words, Socrata will work with the CIA and other intelligence agencies to transform raw data into a format easily utilized and accessible to the intelligence community.

The CIA’s interest in Socrata is crystal clear considering that the Department of Health and Human Services is establishing a centralized Federal Data Services Hub, a comprehensive database of Americans’ private information made available to multiple federal entities.

Healthcare.gov captures the personal data provided during the Obamacare enrollment process for this spy grid database.

In-Q-Tel has been investing in firms developing data mining technologies for years.

In the early 2000s, In-Q-Tel invested in Keyhole Inc., the company that developed 3D “flyby” images of buildings and terrain from geospatial data collected by satellites.

Google later purchased Keyhole in 2004 and rolled its technology into Google Earth.

Around the same time, the Director of Technology Assessment at In-Q-Tel, Rob Painter, left his position to become the Senior Federal Manager at Google.

A former CIA case officer, Robert Steele, said that Google is “in bed with” the CIA.

Facebook also received funding through Accel Partners, a venture capital firm with ties to In-Q-Tel and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

We now live in the FSA, the FASCIST STATES OF AMERICA.

by: not Lorky from: DC

October 24, 2013 2:06 PM

Lorky,Since you clearly want everyone to know your a developer, let's try this analogy...You and your team develop an app for months. In the months leading up to the release of the app, your team informs the client that the app is not ready and needs more testing and debugging. The client ignores the comment and continues to tell it's end users that the amazing app will be available for use as planned. The day comes and the app is released. Within minutes, it's down because the app had not been developed for the obvious traffic levels that were going to hit it. In addition, the app continues to have major and minor problems for almost a month, in many cases making it useless to the end user. The end users are pissed because the app didn't help them to do the main things they were told it would. The client is pissed because they don't like all the complaints they're getting from the end users. I'm assuming you'd be pissed because you tried to warn the client that it wasn't ready.I know you don't think politics had anything to do with this, but think again, and you'll realize it did...

In Response

by: Lorky

October 24, 2013 2:39 PM

The scenario you just described sounds like every project I've ever worked on.

I'm just saying a buggy, rushed release (despite what developers say) isn't some kind of anomaly.

by: Jerry from: Missouri

October 24, 2013 11:29 AM

Typical, Obama refuses to listen to reason. Republicans asked him to delay this rollout. His arrogance, would never bow down to reason. Now we have a nightmare on our hands, Very typical of his entire presidency. He could sure use a lesson in humility, and this just might be the thing he needs to learn it.

In Response

by: Lorky

October 24, 2013 12:30 PM

As an application developer, I don't think this issue has much of anything to do with politics, but rather has to do with the process of software deployment. You can spend months hammering out bugs in a test environment, but you're never able to simulate the production environment until you're actually there. People are jumping the gun and calling the program a failure because of software technicalities, but typically software takes months to hammer out once in production.

I refuse to judge the effectiveness of the software until I see how it works after a few months. I'd advise everyone to be patient and thoughtful.

by: Scott from: Warsaw, IN

October 24, 2013 8:55 AM

typical of Congress to debate about something that will eventually work it's glitches out, instead of moving forward. Here's a thought, get started on the budget before the February deadline you morons, instead of putting it off until the week before. A balanced one would be nice, I know I have to balance my budget every month.

In Response

by: Lorky

October 24, 2013 12:33 PM

Exactly! As an application developer, I agree that most bugs take time to hammer out after software is deployed into a production environment. It definitely should not be a political priority.

by: arthurpkaske from: Missoula Montana

October 24, 2013 8:11 AM

Why would anyone buy a new car that won't start?

In Response

by: Lorky

October 24, 2013 12:42 PM

Who would want a child who can't talk? Was my question relevant? No. Neither was yours. You're talking about completely separate instances of technology. Creating a car and creating software are amazingly different. You can't simulate an unpredictable production environment when testing a car. Not to mention that cars fail millions of times a year, resulting in death. Please don't continue to make use of this analogy. It's not a very good one.

At this year's annual South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas, some musicians from Mali were on hand to promote a film about how their lives were upturned by jihadists who destroyed ancient treasures in the city of Timbuktu and prohibited anyone from playing music under threat of death. As VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Austin, some are afraid to return to their hometowns even though the jihadists are no longer in control there.

Video

At this year's annual South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas, some musicians from Mali were on hand to promote a film about how their lives were upturned by jihadists who destroyed ancient treasures in the city of Timbuktu and prohibited anyone from playing music under threat of death. As VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Austin, some are afraid to return to their hometowns even though the jihadists are no longer in control there.

Video

American warplanes joined Iraq's battle against the so-called 'Islamic State' in northern Iraq late Wednesday, as Iraqi ground troops launched a massive assault on Tikrit. Analysts say the offensive could take the coalition a step further towards Mosul, the largest city held by Islamic State forces. Others say it could also deepen already-dangerous sectarian tensions in the region. VOA's Heather Murdock has more from Cairo.

Video

Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry in the Philippines. Close to five million foreign visitors traveled there last year, perhaps lured by the country’s tropical beaches. But Jason Strother reports from Manila that the country hopes to entice more travelers to stay indoors and spend money inside new casinos.

Video

The continued fighting in eastern Ukraine and the shelling of civilian neighborhoods seem to be pushing more men to join the separatist fighters. Many of the new recruits are residents of Ukraine made bitter by new grievances, as well as old. VOA's Patrick Wells reports.

Video

Islamic State fighter, a prisoner of Kurdish YPG forces, asked his family asking for forgiveness: "I destroyed myself and I destroyed them along with me." The Syrian youth was one of two detainees who spoke to VOA’s Kurdish Service about the path they chose; their names have been changed and identifying details obscured. VOA's Zana Omer reports.

Video

More is being discovered about the co-pilot in the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps. Investigators say he was hiding a medical condition, raising questions about the mental qualifications of pilots. VOA's Carolyn Presutti reports.

Video

In cities with heavily congested traffic, people can get around much faster on a motorcycle than in a car. But a rider who is not sure of his route may have to stop to look at the map or consult a GPS. A Russian start-up company is working to make navigation easier for motorcyclists. Designers at Moscow-based LiveMap are developing a smart helmet with a built-in navigation system, head-mounted display and voice recognition. Zlatica Hoke has more.

Video

U.S. federal law enforcement agents arrested two suburban Chicago men accused of trying to join ISIS overseas, while also plotting attacks in the United States. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from the Midwest state of Illinois, one of those arrested is a soldier of the Illinois National Guard.

Video

Traditional push-rim wheelchairs create a lot of stress for arm, shoulder and neck muscles and joints. A redesigned chair, based on readily available bicycle technology, radically increases mobility while reducing the physical effort. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Beatrice Yardolo was to make history as Liberia’s last Ebola patient. Liberians recently started counting down 42 days, the period that has to go by without a single new infection until the World Health Organization can declare a country Ebola-free. That countdown stopped on March 20 when there was another new case of Ebola, making Yardolo’s story a reminder that Ebola is far from over. Benno Muchler reports from Monrovia.

Video

Indigenous communities in Cambodia's Ratanakiri province say the government’s economic land concession policy is taking away their land and traditional way of life, making many fear that their identity will soon be lost. Local authorities, though, have denied this is the case. VOA's Say Mony went to investigate and filed this report, narrated by Colin Lovett.

Video

One of the films that drew big crowds last week at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, tells the story of the last human being to stand on the moon, U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan. It has been 42 years since Cernan returned from the moon and he laments that no one else has gone there since. VOA’s Greg Flakus reports.